DVDs

Finding Doctor Who On American DVD

Go immediately to Conspiracy of Good’s Doctor Who On American DVD interface.

The British television series Doctor Who was a staple of Saturday afternoon television in the United Kingdom for decades, but the appeal of the classic series was largely lost on American viewers until it returned for new episodes in 2005.

Depicting the time-traveling tales of a Gallifreyan Time Lord, the series is a romp through more different story types, settings and characters than most viewers could imagine coming from one program.

Debuting in 1963 and running until 1989, Doctor Who became ingrained in British culture. A 1996 movie attempting to bring the character back and to an American audience failed despite being a watchable and entertaining effort, but a British revival in 2005 has been a huge success.

When Doctor Who returned to British television after nearly two decades off, it came back with modern special effects, young Doctors and many brand new monsters marching alongside classics like Daleks and Cybermen.

While the new series makes the old episodes seem all the more dated in terms of acting style, set design, effects and even story quality, the sleek and modern current series, airing in much of the English-speaking world including the United States, has renewed interest in the classic series.

During the original run of Doctor Who on British television, seven men played the Doctor. Americans who bothered to watch were introduced to the Doctor by many local public television stations, but only Tom Baker’s portrayal and perhaps John Pertwee’s version are familiar to Americans who tuned in on the PBS broadcasts. Other doctors were never shown here or at least failed to make an impression.

Most classic Doctor Who stories have now been released on DVD, however, and so have the episodes of the new BBC Doctor Who series. But some of the classic stories were released so long ago that they are no longer available new from sellers like Amazon. Still, everything from the classic series that was released in the UK has also been released in the United States, with a few more still to come.

Locating stories online can be hard because Amazon and other sites aren’t organized as well as they could be. For that reason, Conspiracy of Good has created its own store to help you locate classic and modern Doctor Who stories on American DVD. This interface, offered in conjunction with Amazon’s American site, makes finding those episodes that are currently available easier than ever.

To access this interface, click here:

Doctor Who On American DVD

For viewers who long for more Doctor Who as well as those who haven’t yet been properly introduced this renegade Time Lord, the Doctor Who On American DVD interface is ready for your browsing.

Doctor Who Movie Available In America on DVD

For years, you couldn’t get the Doctor Who movie on American DVD. Legal rights issues made it unavailable here — although it was available in the U.K.

Now, you can see it here and judge it for yourself.

The Doctor Who movie, a British-American joint venture aimed at potentially launching a new TV series on Fox, is routinely slammed among Doctor Who fans as a nasty and aborted chapter in Doctor Who history best locked away and forgotten.

But it’s not that bad. It’s just as entertaining as most Doctor Who episodes.

Paul McGann’s Doctor is funny, quirky and intense – perfect to follow Sylvester McCoy’s reign as the Time Lord. In fact, McCoy gets the first twenty minutes of the film to himself before the Frankenstein-themed regeneration sequence. The Seventh Doctor’s final appearance is a strong performance and perhaps the best part of the movie.

The Doctor movie has much more to come, however.

Once Paul McGann settles in, the plot gets murky and takes turns most Who purists wish it had not. The fact that McGann’s Doctor is half human is an integral part of the plot and can’t be swept under the carpet as easily as some fan would like. The effort even features an American-style car chase, of course. The Eighth Doctor’s performance, however, is solid throughout.

The TARDIS stars in this story alongside The Doctor, Grace, Lee and The Master. Even when poor camera work in some of the TARDIS scenes makes the mostly adequate special effects look like spray-painted Styrofoam and flashing lights, the time machine looks grander than ever. Even the high-tech TARDIS of the new series pales beside this one. The old girl has class.

While Yee Jee Tso’s performance as Lee is wooden and amateurish, he does not have enough dialog to do much serious damage to the production. Eric Roberts first does a nice impression of the previous Master’s voice, but after a line about getting used to his new body, Roberts’ own mannerisms turn a menacing foe into something that eventually becomes like a perturbed Liberace.

The plot of the Doctor Who movie wraps up with convoluted convenience, but the story ultimately does not leave a bad taste in the mouth. It’s a good effort and worth seeing. Just don’t watch too closely.

Star Wars vs Star Trek: The Rivalry Continues on DVD

Is there a Star Trek vs Star Wars rivalry?

Whether there is genuinely a rivalry between fans of Star Trek and Star Wars productions or whether these franchises have actually mostly the same fans, as I suspect, you won’t get much of a sense of it from watching Star Wars vs. Star Trek: The Rivalry Continues.

Don’t let that discourage you from buying this DVD, however. It’s great fun to watch. It’s so bad it’s actually good.

I’m a fan of Star Trek and will watch anything Paramount offers that is even vaguely related to the Enterprise, Starfleet or Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future universe. I’ve never seen a Star Wars movie, although I admit to trying to watch one once. For me, there is no rivalry.

A Star Wars vs Star Trek rivalry? Not as far as I’m concerned.

Star Trek wins hands down. Still, I thought an examination of the perceived rivalry would be entertaining.

While the 50-minute documentary includes some interesting interview snippets and a couple of Star Trek bloopers, there is very little real content. A few fans of the two franchises are interviewed, but producers managed to gather no truly insightful or entertaining comments. The production’s key question, “Is there a rivalry between Star Trek and Star Wars fans?”, goes mostly unanswered.

The documentary’s biggest problems are technical, however. Once viewers get past the stuffy announcer, very poor quality video makes the production look even worse than it really it. The images of Star Trek’s original series are blurry bootlegs, while almost all other images are from trailers and press photos.

Sloppy editors even show a nice head shot of DeForest Kelley to introduce an interview soundbyte from Star Trek guest actor Michael Forest.

On my DVD player, the documentary starts playing immediately upon inserting the disc. I only learned about the menu and special features later.

Short additional interview material is unintentionally humorous, from a confused Carrie Fisher being interviewed in English and Spanish at the same time to an ultimately useless interview (from the late 1970s but strangely in black and white) with an arrogant William Shatner that fades away mid-sentence.

Amateur footage from the opening of the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton and some Star Wars fan footage that I didn’t bother to watch are also included.

Still, while you may be included to boldly go elsewhere, true devotees of either franchise need to see this DVD so they can write humorous and biting blog and message board posts about it. And it’s at least interesting to watch.

So what about that Star Trek vs Star Wars rivalry? You’ll have to decide that for yourself, but this fun (if not compelling) DVD Star Wars vs. Star Trek: The Rivalry Continues won’t really help you decide.